鯨

鯨 (radical 195, 魚+8, 19 strokes, cangjie input 弓火卜口火 (NFYRF), four-corner 2039₆, composition ⿰魚京)

• KangXi: page 1473, character 12
• Dai Kanwa Jiten: character 46257
• Dae Jaweon: page 2005, character 9
• Hanyu Da Zidian: volume 7, page 4698, character 6
• Unihan data for U+9BE8

Historical forms of the character 鯨
Shuowen Jiezi (compiled in Han)
Small seal script

Phono-semantic compound (形聲, OC *ɡraŋ) : semantic 魚 (“fish”) + phonetic 京 (OC *kraŋ).

Cognate with 京 (OC *kraŋ, “mound; capital; great”) (Wang, 1982).

鯨

1. whale
2. ^† great; huge

(common “Jōyō” kanji)

• Go-on: ぎょう (gyō)^{←ぎやう (gyau, historical)}
• Kan-on: けい (kei)
• Kan’yō-on: げい (gei, Jōyō)
• Kun: くじら (kujira, 鯨, Jōyō)^{←くぢら (kudira, historical)}; おくじら (okujira, 鯨)^{←おくぢら (okudira, historical)}; いさ (isa, 鯨); いさな (isana, 鯨)

/kudira/ → /kud͡ʑira/

From Old Japanese. Appears in the Kojiki of 712 CE with the man'yōgana spelling 久治良 (kudira), from Proto-Japonic *kuntira.

Ultimate derivation unclear. Theories include an alteration from 口広 (kuchibiro) in reference to the wide mouth;[1] an alteration from 口開く (kuchibiraku) in reference to the gaping mouth; and an alteration from 黒白 (kuroshiro) in reference to the black-and-white coloration of certain cetaceans.[2]

However, the oldest sources clearly spell the term as kudira.

• This rules out 口 (kuti → kuchi, “mouth”) as an etymon, as the oldest compounds using this term use the bound form kutu, not kuti, and there is no support for a kutu → kudi shift.
• This also rules out 白 (siro, sira → shiro, shira, “white”) as an etymon. Although rendaku (voicing in compounds) would give modern jira as a reading for 白, the ancient reading of sira would voice to something closer to zira, and there is no support for a zira → dira shift.

Also compare Korean 고래 (gorae) "whale."

• Kun’yomi
  • (Tokyo) くじら [kùjírá] (Heiban – [0])[3][4]
  • IPA^(key): [kɯ̟ᵝʑiɾa̠]

鯨 (hiragana くじら, katakana クジラ, rōmaji kujira, historical hiragana くぢら)

1. a whale (large sea mammal)

   鯨 鯢 唐韻云、大魚、雄曰鯨、渠京反、雌曰鯢、音蜺、久知良 [...][5]

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

   Cujira. (鯨) 鯨.[6]

   (please add an English translation of this usage example)

As with many terms that name organisms, this term is often spelled in katakana, especially in biological contexts, as クジラ.

From Old Japanese. Root isa (“powerful?”) appears to be the same element in verb 勇む (isamu, “to be courageous, to be in high spirits”).[7]

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [isa̠]

鯨 (hiragana いさ, rōmaji isa)

1. (archaic) a whale (large sea mammal)

• 鯨 (いさな) (isana), 勇魚 (いさな) (isana): whale (see below)

From Old Japanese. Found in the Man'yōshū completed some time after 759 CE,[8] often with the spelling 鯨魚 (literally “whale fish”).

From cognate isa above, suffixed with 魚 (-na, “fish”).[7][4] Sometimes spelled as 勇魚.

• Kun’yomi
  • IPA^(key): [isa̠na̠]

• 勇魚

鯨 (hiragana いさな, rōmaji isana)

1. (archaic) a whale (large sea mammal)
   • c. 759, Man'yōshū (book 13, poem 3339); text here

     玉桙之 道尓出立 葦引乃 野行山行 潦 川徃渉 鯨名取 海路丹出而...

     玉桙の 道に出で立ち あしひきの 野行き山行き にはたづみ 川行き渡り 鯨魚取り 海道に出でて...
     たまほこの みちにいでたち あしひきの のゆきやまゆき にはたづみ かはゆきわたり いさなとり うみぢにいでて...

     Tamahoko no / michi ni idetachi / ashi hiki no / no yuki yama yuki / niwatazumi / kawa yuki watari / isana tori umiji ni idete...

     Heading out on the jeweled-spear road, going through the alluring fields and mountains, crossing the puddles and rivers, taking to the whaling sea road ...

鯨 • (gyeong) (hangeul 경, revised gyeong, McCune–Reischauer kyŏng, Yale kyeng)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.

鯨

• Kun: ぐんじゃ (gunja)

• IPA^(key): /ɡund͡ʑa/

鯨 (hiragana ぐんじゃ, romaji gunja)

1. whale

鯨

• Kun: ふづぁ (fudza)

• IPA^(key): /fud͡za/

鯨 (hiragana ふづぁ, romaji fudza)

1. whale

鯨

• Kun: ぐじら (gujira)

• IPA^(key): /ɡud͡ʑiɾa/

鯨 (hiragana ぐじら, romaji gujira)

1. whale

鯨 (kình, kềnh)

1. This term needs a translation to English. Please help out and add a translation, then remove the text {{rfdef}}.